Dark Chronicles

Legends say that tens of thousands of years ago, Whisperers were banished from the heavens, torn in half, and dumped on a mortal realm they didn’t understand. Longing for their other half, they went from being powerful immortals to lonely leeches relying on humans to survive. Over the years, they earned magic from demons, they left themselves Notebooks with hints, and by pairing up with human souls, they eventually found their other halves. Humbled by their experiences, they discovered the true purpose of life and many were worthy of returning to the heavens. But many were not.

The Dark Chronicles are stories that share the heartache of select unworthy Whisperers on their journey to immortality after The War of 2019. Can’t Dream Without You is one of those stories, in which we meet Steve and Julia, two such heroes.

Steve isn’t a normal boy. He plays with demons, his soul travels to a dream realm at night using mystical butterflies, and soon he’ll earn the power to raise the dead. Al thinks that destroying him would do the world a favour, yet he just can’t kill his own son. Wanting to acquire the power that raises the dead before Steve does, Al performs a ritual on Steve’s sixteenth birthday. He transfers Steve’s dark magic to Julia, an innocent girl he plans to kill. But Steve is determined to save Julia and sucks her soul to Dreamland. From the dream
world, he invokes the help of her brother to keep her safe.

Five years later, Steve can’t tell what’s real or what’s a nightmare. Julia’s brother wants to kill him, a strange bald eagle is erasing memories, and Steve’s caught in some bizarre bullfight on another realm with a cop hot on his trail looking to be Julia’s hero. All the while, Steve and Julia must fight the desperate need to make their steamy dreams a reality.

The post-apocalyptic world of the Whisperers that Tanya has created is recognisably contemporary, yet with a rich and deep mythology distinguishing it from our own world while at the same time making it much more credible. These are characters you might expect to meet, but really wouldn’t want to!

Can’t Dream Without You will be published in both a digital edition and in paperback in 2016.

In the beginning of time, when God made the world, he split the creatures into two. Those with magic and those without. Every creature had a place but those with magic were fascinated by those without. They intervened in the non-magic world known as the mortal realm to teach. One group in particular began to integrate themselves into this mortal world: the Whisperers.

Whisperers were immortal. They called themselves a conscience for mortals and they took upon the task of guiding them along their intriguing journey.

Purposely, Whisperers led their parties astray to see what would happen and to study the results. God grew tired of the abuse and decided to offer them a chance to live as the mortals do. Each immortal was split in two. He ordered them to pair up with mortals and learn hands on how to live without magic, to die, and to love. He offered their magic to demons and promised that if Whisperers found their other half and were content with what they’d learnt, He’d allow them to return to the heavens as the immortals they once were.

Time passed. Powerless and confused they were forced to try new things. Some earned back their magic from demons; others discovered memories and secret worlds known as realms. Always, they had this need to guide and teach the creatures from the mortal realm and sometimes, magic seeped into to their teachings. They didn't limit themselves to just humans, but animals, elements, even insects were at their mercy.

Slowly Whisperers found their powers and each other. They regrouped into families with leaders, counsellors, and rules. They left behind Notebooks to remind the next family of Whisperers of what they were and what they could do with their spells. They called their enchantment spells, whispers.

Each Whisperer grew in a new way and focused on a unique ability to whisper to as their calling. A Storm Whisperer whispers to nature. A Light Whisperer guides and controls the light that is someone’s spirit. A Love Whisperer or cupid controls their emotions. A Dark Whisperer encourages good people to do bad things. And so on...

In these families, they grew more powerful and vowed to never whisper alone. As they passed from life to life, reincarnating, pairing up with human souls, demonic souls or even with each other, they changed. This change was seen in their souls as a greyish colour. The transition could take one breath or thousands of lives.

As Grey Whisperers, their ultimate goal became to reach enlightenment and return to the heavens as gods. They remembered why they were here and in the remembering came an understanding. They mastered magic. They travelled to other realms. They understood concepts others didn’t and enjoyed teaching and learning. Some found their soulmates. All struggled with a new sensation; they felt more mortal than Whisperer, and this made them hesitate to return to the heavens, as they finally understood that they were unworthy of whispering to mortals.

They deepened their studies and worshiped false gods in hopes that they would one day be worthy.